


Linked

by Lupin_73276



Category: Dialogues - Plato, Original Work
Genre: Mild Language, POV First Person, POV Third Person, Soulmates, Use of one swear word, plato soulmate theory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-21
Updated: 2013-04-21
Packaged: 2017-12-09 03:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/769611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lupin_73276/pseuds/Lupin_73276
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'I look at my left wrist and sigh dramatically, I sometimes wonder if the mark is a curse not the blessing my parents painted it to be. From a young age they filled my head with romantic fairytales of my soul mate, the one person I was meant to be with. That one day I would meet them and my life would be perfect. It was a crock of shit.'</p><p>'My thoughts are interrupted but a swirling feeling in the pit of my gut, a feeling a dread settling in my stomach. I twist myself into an almost foetal position, trying to alleviate the sensation.  I get the overwhelming sense that something is terribly wrong and for a moment I feel physically ill. '</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This short story was inspired by this post on Tumbr: http://double-dents.tumblr.com/post/48409557999/freakoftheangels-w33nawbuzznarl-rifa
> 
> It includes a Prologue, a breif explaination of Plato's soulmate theory which I incorporated into this story. More about soulmates here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulmate

Over 2,300 years ago the Greek philosopher Plato had Aristophanes, a comic playwright, present a story about soul mates for his dialogue The Symposium.  
Aristophanes states that humans originally had four arms, four legs and a single head made of two faces. His continues that there were three genders: man, woman and ‘Androgynous’, each with two sets of genitalia, the Androgynous having both male and female genitalia. The men were children of the sun, women of the earth and the Androgynous of the moon, born of the sun and earth.  
It is said that humans had great strength and threatened to conquer the gods. The gods were faced with the prospect of destroying the humans with lightening as they had with the Titans, but then they would lose the tributes given to the gods by humans. Zeus developed a creative solution by splitting the humans in half as punishment for their pride and doubling the number of humans who would give tributes to the gods.  
These split humans were in utter misery to the point where they would not eat and would perish so Apollo had sewn them up and reconstituted their bodies with the navel being the only remnant harkening back to their original form. Each human would then only have one set of genitalia and would forever long for his/her other half; the other half of his/her soul. It is said that when the two find each other, there is an unspoken understanding of one another, that they feel unified and would lay with each other in unity and would know no greater joy than that.

What Plato did not know was that this is not so different from the truth about humans and soul mates, in fact it had been Eros, the god of love, that had whispered this story to Aristophanes in a dream. Eros had been devastated when the humans had been split, loosing the other half of themselves. So he devised a plan to help humanity find their soul mates, this was just the first step.  
Over the next few hundred years Eros developed a mark that would signify whether or not a human had met their soul mate, and whether they were living or not. It took a while to perfect, but eventually he tampered with the fabric of humans existence to make it so each child was born with his mark upon their left wrist. At first this caused mass alarm, parents were in a state of panic but were soon soothed when Eros yet again whispered into the ears of influential people, telling a story of the mark. This story was then passed down the generations, and the god rejoiced at being able to assist the humans in their endeavour to find the other half of their souls. 

The mark was a small circle on the inside of the left wrist. One half of the circle is bolder than the other, this represents the mark bearer whereas the thinner half represented their soul mate. This symbol was red in colour and signified that the soul mate was alive but the two had not yet met, if that circle faded to grey that meant that the soul mate has died, it was what every person dreaded. When a human did meet their soul mate their circle became fully bold, then transitioned into a solid red dot. Again, if this faded to grey the soul mate had lost their life.


	2. Linked

I look at my left wrist and sigh dramatically, I sometimes wonder if the mark is a curse not the blessing my parents painted it to be. From a young age they filled my head with romantic fairytales of my soul mate, the one person I was meant to be with. That one day I would meet them and my life would be perfect. It was a crock of shit. The facts are that on average 30-40% of people never even meet their soul mate, the other person either dies first or they just never find each other. Don’t get me wrong, I eagerly anticipate the day that I meet the other half of myself, wanting to have the one person who understands me. However, I resent my parents in a way for raising my hopes so high when in reality it was not guaranteed that I would even meet my other half. 

My mark mocks me, blood red in colour only half of it bold while the other half was pathetically thin always a reminder that I am alone. Okay, I know I’m being a bit of a drama queen at least my soul mate is alive. My aunt is not so lucky, she was only fifteen when her incomplete mark faded grey. She is estranged from the family and we don’t see her much, my mother tells me that she changed after it happened, not that I’m surprised. Mum tells me that aunt once wanted to be a paediatric nurse, she adored children but after it faded she lost her zest for life, settling for a receptionist job at a pre-school, she still gets to work with children but it wasn’t the same. 

So I really shouldn’t complain but sometimes I just wish that I didn’t have a mark, that they didn’t exist. All our lives we wait for someone that may never come, someone we don’t know, a person you know nothing about. It’s almost cruel, giving a person that hope and it being dashed if the mark fades. 

My thoughts are interrupted but a swirling feeling in the pit of my gut, a feeling a dread settling in my stomach. I twist myself into an almost foetal position, trying to alleviate the sensation. I get the overwhelming sense that something is terribly wrong and for a moment I feel physically ill. My hands clutch my stomach, I breath harshly trying to slow my rampant heartbeat. A slight stinging sensation, like pins and needles, flares in my left wrist. I grab my left forearm, my eyes widening in horror as the mark starts to fade pink around the edges, a faint grey creeping in. No, no, no, this can’t be happening, my mind rushes to try to grasp what is occurring and panic sets in. Only moments ago I was lamenting the presence of the mark, now I am facing every persons worst nightmare. My heart feels like it’s going to jackrabbit right out of my chest, my breathing is fast paced and the stinging in my wrist intensifies. 

I open my eyes that had been tightly closed when I feel the pain in my wrist ebb away, my stomach finally starts to settle again. I feel beyond confused when my body starts to automatically come down from the emotional wreck it had been moments before. After the pacing of my heart finally settles, my breathing returns to normal, I still feel anxious and scared. I dare not look at my wrist for fear of the colour the mark will be. 

I sit for several minutes, every muscle in my body tense. My mind is working a mile a minute, all sorts of things flying through my mind. I am starting to hate my self for what I was thinking only moments before it happened, wishing for no mark only now it seems I may have my wish. A feeling a deep loneliness creeps up on me, settling in my bones. Tears mist my vision as imagine that rest of my life, alone and unfulfilled. I take a shuddering breath as I build up the courage to confirm my fears. I clench my eyes shut for a moment as I draw up the sleeve of my shirt. As I release one more breath that catches in my throat I force my eyes open to stare down at my skin. 

My body sags in relief, my little mark is still red and incomplete. I slump in my chair and let out a shuddering, joyful laugh, covering my mouth with one hand in disbelief as a stray tear rolls down my cheek.


End file.
